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Wireless networking fails after power failure

Doctor Q

Doctor Q

Administrator
Original poster
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
40,493
9,472
Los Angeles
My Apple TV was working fine. I could use it either wired or wirelessly. It was full of my music, photos, and movies.

Then the power went out in our neighborhood. Since power came back on, I can't get wireless networking to work. The Apple TV fails to connect to the wireless access point even though I know they see each other. It can't access the Internet, can't be synced to iTunes, and iTunes doesn't show the device.

I've tried all of the following:
  • unplugging the Apple TV and waiting 30 seconds
  • unplugging the wireless access point and waiting 30 seconds
  • quitting and relaunching iTunes
  • making sure iTunes is set to look for the Apple TV
  • restarting my Mac
  • resetting and reentering the Apple TV user settings
  • doing a full factory reset on the Apple TV (wiping out all my media on it)
  • resetting the wireless access point to factory settings and redoing all of its settings
  • re-entering the Apple TV network settings (wireless network name and WEP key) half a dozen times, to make sure I entered all-correct information
More clues:
  1. If I switch to wired networking, the Apple TV works fine, syncing to my Mac and accessing movie trailers from the Internet.
  2. While entering the Apple TV wireless network settings, if I enter my wireless network name correctly, it goes to the next step, asking me for the WEP key. If I enter the wireless network name incorrectly, however, it gives me an error message. So it knows the difference, i.e., it can tell when I've entered the correct name.
  3. The wireless access point has a log that shows accesses, and it shows acesses from the MAC address of my Apple TV.
That's proof that the Apple TV communicates with the wireless access point. But it won't connect to the network after I enter my WEP key, as it had been doing before the power failure.

I know I've entered the WEP key correctly (26 hex digits for 128-bit encryption), and I tried changing to a new WEP key and testing that one too. It still refuses to connect wirelessly.

I'd read Apple's Apple TV: Tips and Basic Troubleshooting and I have no theories left of what could be wrong. This is driving me nutty.

Any ideas?
 
EricNau said:
Can other computers connect to the wireless AP, or is the problem limited to just the Apple TV?
Click to expand...
Excellent question and I plan to find out the answer in the next 24 hours. My wireless-equipped computer isn't here at the moment, but I'll have it handy tomorrow.

As you have observed, that's a good way to test if the problem is with the access point or the Apple TV and narrow down the list of suspects.
 
Just another thought: have you tried removing the wireless security altogether, or upgrading to WPA? :)

...And for curiosity's sake, what brand is your AP?
 
EricNau said:
Just another thought: have you tried removing the wireless security altogether, or upgrading to WPA? :)
Click to expand...
With security removed from the wireless access point, the Apple TV notices that security is removed, because it no longer prompts for the key. It goes immediately to the Connection Failed message.

...And for curiosity's sake, what brand is your AP?
Click to expand...
Linksys WAP54G.
 
No. Maybe I should look for hotspots around the neighborhood! :rolleyes:

I tried WPA with both TKIP and AES. No dice.

It's as if the Apple TV can't send a key, or as if the access point will no longer accept valid keys.

I'll report here after I test a wireless computer on Sunday.
 
Doctor Q said:
I tried WPA with both TKIP and AES. No dice.

It's as if the Apple TV can't send a key, or as if the access point will no longer accept valid keys.
Click to expand...
But you tested the system without any security and the problem persisted, right? That would lead me to believe that the problem is not security or key related.
 
The results of my testing! -

The wireless access point refuses to let any wireless computer connect in a secure way. Perhaps it's brain dead from the power failure, even though it speaks to me (via a web browser) just fine and correctly communicates the network ID and also the type of security in use to devices that try to connect.

I can't explain how that could happen to this Linksys model, but in any case it seems the Apple TV is an innocent victim.
 
Doctor Q said:
The results of my testing! -

The wireless access point refuses to let any wireless computer connect in a secure way. Perhaps it's brain dead from the power failure, even though it speaks to me (via a web browser) just fine and correctly communicates the network ID and also the type of security in use to devices that try to connect.

I can't explain how that could happen to this Linksys model, but in any case it seems the Apple TV is an innocent victim.
Click to expand...
I suppose the power outage could have corrupted the firmware. You could try restoring the AP firmware. Link

...After all, you don't have much to loose. ;)
 
Good idea. Thanks!

In the meantime, I went back to a wired Apple TV connection and (since I did a factory reset on it) resynced all my content. It sure takes a long time!
 
A neighbor offered to lend me a wireless access point for testing. That should help me confirm that mine is guilty.
 
Thanks for asking.

This afternoon Mr. Neighbor told me that he can't find the device he was going to lend me. Maybe he lent it to somebody else!

So I'll try replacing the firmware, just in case.

The main reason I wanted to go wireless was to avoid having an extra cable running across the room. But with a little effort I can run new cabling through the wall behind the A/V center and have a wired connection in a perfectly tidy way.

Or I can be lazier and buy another AP despite not knowing for sure if that's the cure.
 
I installed new firmware, upgraded from v2.07 (Apr 2004) to v3.04 (Nov 2005).

I reset all settings and tested it, but the Apple TV failed to connect.

Just in case, I tried all this again. It worked!

I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. It's working so I won't touch anything!

Thanks for the help, EricNau.
 
Doctor Q said:
I installed new firmware, upgraded from v2.07 (Apr 2004) to v3.04 (Nov 2005).

I reset all settings and tested it, but the Apple TV failed to connect.

Just in case, I tried all this again. It worked!

I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. It's working so I won't touch anything!

Thanks for the help, EricNau.
Click to expand...
You're very welcome. Glad you got it working. :)

You might want to get a backup generator for your AP to ensure an uninterrupted power source in the future. :p
 
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